Captured in Hell
by ladywhiplasher
Summary: When Skipper has been kidnapped the other penguins go after him. But Skipper was transported to an animal testing lab. Cruel doctors will test some new meds on him. Will the other ones save him before he dies from the drugs? Finally completed. Review! THX
1. Disappeared

**Hey Guys. This is my new story. This one will also be dramatic like my former stories. I kinda got used to write dramatic stories. So enjoy reading and don´t forget to review this one or one of my other stories. XOXO**

It was a quiet evening at the Central Park Zoo. Everything was quiet, so only the distant noises of the city could be heard. The sky was pitch black and cloudy, so the full moon was hardly visible. In the HQ of the Penguins, it was also quietly. Private watched his favorite TV show, Kowalski was in his lab, and Rico brushed the hair of his dolly girlfriend. Just Skipper was very anxious, he felt a strange danger from the silence outside. The leader tried to put this feeling under control but it was something deep in his gut telling him to be on alert. He wanted to hide it from the other penguins but the rest of the team recognized that somethings wrong with their leader.

"Skipper, what's wrong with you? You walk around like a startled chicken." Private asked after a while. "What?" Nothing, what should be? " Skipper replied irritably and sat down to stop walking around. "Switch the telly off, Private." said the leader after a while. Private obeyed and pressed the red button on the remote. At the HQ was a frightening silence now. "Did you hear that?" Skipper asked the small Private. "No, nothing. What should I hear?" said Private and looked inquiringly at his leader.

"Nothing, that is exactly. It's too quiet here at the zoo. You can´t hear the slightest thing. That's weird, right? Not even the ringtail can be heard." Skipper said and took a look around. Private didn´t understand what´s that bad. "I think I'll take a night recon shift today. I want to know more." Skipper said, jumping up. "But why? But it's all quite normal." Private said. The leader turned around with a determined look that let Private shut up.

If Skipper had something on his mind it was almost impossible to hold him back anymore. "I keep watch tonight. Deal with it. Sometimes a threat is creeping under your feather long before it actually happens." Skipper said finally. Kowalski came from his laboratory and looked inquiringly at the others. "What's going on here. The ongoing discussions disturb my concentration." said the tall scientist. "Skipper says that tonight is too quiet and want to do a night recon shift." Private said.

"Skipper, how often did I tell you to not always just on your instincts. Maybe you´ll sit there all night long in the cold just for nothing." Kowalski said precociously. Skipper scowled. "I do not permit any doubt on my decisions. Especially not when it comes to concern me. But why do you care when I´m sitting there in the cold while you´re lying in you cozy warm bunk, right?" Skipper said annoyed.

With that he grabbed the binoculars and climbed the ladder up to the entrance quickly. The others watched him in wonder. "Do you think he has any premonition?" Private asked Kowalski. "No idea. He has a strong gut feeling, which often saved our butts. But sometimes he overdoes it a bit. I'm 99, 99 percent sure that we are not in any danger, just because it's something quiet here. " said the scientist, and waddled back to his lab. private switched the TV on again, but somehow he wasn´t able to focus. What if Skipper is right?, thought the boy and looked up and to Rico, who shook his head.

Private sighed, Skipper could really infect one with his paranoia.

Skipper climbed up to the bell tower to keep his recon duty from this place. He was still angry with the other penguins who didn´t believe him. But he sensed the danger quite clear now. A strange stinging sensation spread through his stomach. He sat down at the bell in the shadow of the moonlight, so that no one could see him, what was almost impossible anyway in such a unusual dark night. The leader looked through the binoculars and searched every inch of the surroundings, but nothing stirred. He could barely see anything in the darkness, which made him even more vigilant.

Meanwhile, the other went to sleep. Hardly anyone had said something after Skipper's gloomy prediction. "Kowalski, do you think Skipper is okay?" Private asked who was a little worried since Skippers sudden leaving. "Don´t panic, Private. There´s nothing out there. Skipper will be out there all night and will fall into bed from sheer exhaustion tomorrow morning." said the scientists, and laid in his bunk. Private laid down too, but with a queasy feeling in his stomach. The little boy lay in his bunk, and wasn´t able to fall asleep. He turned back and forth, but he couldn´t get his eyes shut. Somehow, he felt that something was about to happen.

The leader watched the whole area for hours now. Until now nothing happened yet. Skipper was getting tired and yawned. What he needed now was a nice hot mug of fish coffee. So he decided to sneak into the HQ and get some. Quickly, he jumped on his feet and clambered down to the ground, but then he heard a rustling noise in the bushes behind him.

Once again there was Red Alert inside him. He turned around to get his binoculars, which was lying behind him. But when he did that he suddenly felt a sharp stab in his back. Before he could go after that he got so incredible dizzy that he could hardly stand on his feet. The leader collapsed. He felt more and more sick. The area swam in front of his eyes and he could only hear the excited beating of his own heart. Black figures were approaching him and he wasn´t able to move even an inch. Another painful stinging shot through his body and Skipper lost consciousness.


	2. Missing

**Note: I´ll split all following chapters in half. One part is for Skipper and the other part for the rest of the team. So don´t be confused about that. Please read and **

Private woke up very late next day. He looked at the clock. It was quarter to twelve. "Oh God. I overslept!" he cried in horror, looking for the others. But he only heard a loud snoring. Kowalski and Rico were also still in their bunks and slept. Skipper always used to kick them out of bed, because today was not weekend when they were allowed to sleep as long as they wanted.

The kid looked down to the bunk below him where Skipper used to sleep, but it was cold and deserted, as no one slept there. Private jumped up and looked around the HQ. Skipper was nowhere to see. "Kowalski, Rico! Wake up!" Private screamed in panic. "What's the matter?" Kowalski mumbled sleepily and stretched extensively. Rico gave it only a grunting noise and keept on sleeping. "People quickly, Skipper is gone!" Private cried again, and Kowalski and Rico were now wide awake. "Where could he be? Maybe he's still mad at us because we haven´t believed him?" asked scientists. "Quick, we must look for him." said Private and climbed up the ladder to the entrance. The other two followed him quickly.

Outside was a beautiful day and many visitors attended the zoo. They had to be careful that no one saw them. Private glanced around the crowd, but he couldn´t leader nowhere. He panicked. "Kowalski, options? he asked meekly.

The scientists thought. Where could Skipper just be?. They had to retrace his path. "Skipper holds normally his recon duty from the bell tower, right?" asked Kowalski and Private nodded. "Then let's look there first before we do any wild guesses." said the tall penguin, and went ahead. When they arrived Marlene crossed their way. "Hey, guys. What's wrong with you?" she asked cheerfully.

But she quickly noticed the tense faces of the penguins. "Hello, what's going on with you. Where is Skipper?" the otter said surprised. "This is classifed and now you gotta excuse us, Marlene." Kowalski said curtly and moved on. "Did you see Skipper somewhere?" Private asked. The otter shook her head. "No, why. Is he gone missing?" Marlene asked but before she got an answer the three penguins already disappeared.

"Then no one has seen anything?" said Private concerned. "Skipper was apparently not seen since last night. I'm sure we can find a trace." Kowalski said confidently. They came closer to the bushes that grew near the entrance. Suddenly Rico grunted, he had found something. "Rico, what is it?" Kowalski asked excitedly and Rico held up Skipper binoculars, which was half hidden in the bushes.

"This belongs to Skipper, doesn´t it?" Private asked anxiously. The scientist nodded. "He must have lost it. Keep on watching, we might find something else. But he's definitely been here." Kowalski said. "Rico, magnifying glass, quickly!" demanded the tall penguin to take a look at the area. The maniac penguin choked and spat out a magnifying glass. Kowalski took it immediately and looked around the ground with the binoculars. He found something too. "Look. There are a couple of feathers and ... what is that?" said the scientist with a nervous tone in his voice. Private and Rico ran quickly to him. On the bright cobbles there were a few black feathers and a few drops of red liquid which were looking like blood.

2.2 Missing

As Skipper regained consiousness, he felt like been hit by a lightning. Everything revolved around him and he couldn´t see clearly. An eerie silence surrounded the leader. But slowly his senses came back and he saw that he was in a cage made of solid iron rods.

But everything else was dark around him. He heard a low hum and felt a slight vibration from the floor. He seemed to be in a truck that transported him somewhere. His back ached but he managed to sit up. When he turned around he saw a small puddle of blood where he laid. Then he felt the painful stinging in the back that he had felt before he lost consciousness. Someone had shot him. But the wound was not so large that he would passed out from it. That must have been one tranquilizer dart, thought the leader.

An eerie feeling came over him and he quickly jumped on his feet. Too fast. He was dizzy and his head growled painfully. This must be the after-effects of anesthesia, the leader thought fast. After a few minutes dizziness he started to investigate the area. He could hardly see anything, he didn´t know where he was or where the truck will get him to. Suddenly, desperation is spreading in him. "Hey, is anybody here? Let me out of here!" cried the leader, but no one answered him.

He tried to break the bars. but these were much too thick and solid, so that he had no chance to escape. He was caught and no one was there to help him. Skipper sat in a corner of the cage, trying to think what he should do. He sat there several minutes until the truck stopped. The leader prepared himself for the worst. Slowly the hatch of the truck has been opened. Skipper got ready to attack someone. A man entered and walked directly toward him.

He glanced at him and called for a colleague. "Hey, the penguin is awake." Seconds later a second man came with a white coat. Apparently he was a doctor because he had a syringe in his hand. Slowly, both came up to him. Skipper knew how he could defend himself against two people, but then everything happened very quickly. One of them opened his cage and Skipper started an attack. But the guy rammed his fist in his stomach, which lead that Skipper laid motionless on the ground for a few seconds. Skipper gasped in pain and watched as the doctor approached. Without hesitation he inject him another dose of the anesthetic. The leader felt his senses passing, and two minutes later he was unconscious again.


	3. Searching Skipper and Medical CheckUp

**Note: Now it´s getting interesting. Don´t be confused about the double chapters. Keep reading and reviewing. XOXO**

3.1 Searching Skipper

Private saw a few small stains of blood and was shocked. "Kowalski, is Skipper dead?" asked the little penguin nervous. "No, no, I believe he was shot. I guess it was a tranquilizer dart, which got him, because for a normal bullet it is too less blood. He passed out and then got kidnapped. But why?" Kowalski asked himself. "Who would want to kidnap Skipper, and why?" Private still asked anxiously. "No idea, but they were human. I'm sure." considered Kowalski.

Suddenly Rico made a loud noise and pointed to a small red-colored arrow that was lying in the bushes. Private and Kowalski took a look immediatly. The scientist held it in his flippers. He was about 3 inches long and had a 2 inch long needle on the top. "This must be the arrow, that Skipper was shot with. The needle, got the drug got into his body and within seconds, then he must have lost consciousness." Kowalski said to the others, but this wasn´t very helpful. The scientists looked at the bushes, but he couldn´t find anything special anymore. They had no option but to ask the zoo inhabitans for more information.

But before they started, King Julien crossed their way. "Hey, what's going on neighbors?" asked the Lemur annoying loud. "Shh, we're here just for an investigation. Tell me, did you see something weird last night?" Kowalski asked curiously. "No, what should I have seen? The only thing that was going on yesterday, was the vet. creeping through the zoo with his loyal subjects." cackled Julien. "What? The vet.? That´s not possible. He had a day off, because yesterday I had ´borrowed´ some equipment for my experiments. The one you saw was definitely not the doctor who works here at the zoo .

"But why should Skipper be kidnapped by a doctor? I don´t think he needs another shot, does he?. "Private asked." Right, so there has to be another reason. We need to search more closely. "Kowalski said." The annoying penguin is gone? "said Julien, who was now very curious." That's none of your buisness, so if you don´t have any further information for us, you can go. We have a lot of work to do here. " said the tall penguin. King Julien, of course, hated it when he couldn´t get involved and responded immediately insulted. He turned around on the spot and disappeared back into his habitat." Finally he's gone. "said Private and turned back to Kowalski.

" Okay, so the only thing we know is that Skipper has been kidnapped by a doctor. But we don´´t know why and where he is. We have to hurry up, men. "Said the scientist, and waddled out to the entrance to continue his investigation. The others followed him. Kowalski looked around and saw some tire tracks on the road." Looks like someone wanted to get out of here as fast. as possible ... I guess that were the kidnappers. "Considered the tall penguin" Kowalski, I've found something "Private shouted excitedly He held a small white piece of paper in his flipper. It had only four words written on:. New Jersey Pharmacy Coorp. "What is that? asked the little Private surprised. "I don´t know but I guess it´s a company that manufactures medical drugs. But why should help this to find Skipper?" Kowalski asked himself.

Suddenly the tall penguin waddled back to the zoo again. Without a word. "Hey, wait. What is it?" Private shouted and he and Rico followed him. Kowalski quickly ran into the office of Alice, but she sat with her usual annoyed facial expression in front of the computer. "Rico, distracting scenario. You have to get her out of here for at least ten minutes so that I can use the computer." said Kowalski and Rico went to the kitchen the next door.

He started turning on all kitchen devices, all together they made a hellish noise. "What the...?" shouted Alice annoyed and got up to go to the kitchen. When she got there she screamed becaused Rico had destroyed the kitchen even more. "Private, fast. Lock the door." Kowalski ordered and Private immediately turned the key in the lock. Kowalski jumped on the desk and logged in. "What are you doing. Do you have an idea?" Private asked because of Kowalskis strange behaviour. "I wanna see what kind of company it was, which was written on the paper." said the scientist and hastily typed on the keys. He started the web browser and went to an Internet search engine. He quickly typed the name of the company and pressed search. Within a second, many pages were viewed. Some home sites of the company and newspaper articles. Nothing really special. But one link got Kowalskis attention. He saw some pictures of animals in cages and turned to Private who was shocked too.

The scientist clicked on the page and immediately appeared even more frightening images and below again was a newspaper clipping. 'After an investigation at the pharmaceutical company, after several incidents of toxic drugs, the police found a lab. that is used for illegal animal testing. Many of the caged animals were stolen, for example, from a zoo. The pharmaceutical company has immediately been closed and all animals were returned to their homes. But the police assumes that the company will keep on animal testing in the underground. Further investigations are in progress.´ Kowalski looked up, shocked. "Oh God, do you believe that Skipper has been transported to this animal experiment lab?" Private asked shocked. Kowalski couldn´t answer from shock and nodded.

3.2 Medical Check- Up

This time it took longer until Skipper woke up. Bright light blinded him as he opened his eyes again. He heard voices around him and felt something cold beeing pushed on his chest. "Species: Penguin. Gender: Male. The little guy is completely healthy and strong, a good test subject I´ll just give him a drug neutralizer and then you can take him back to his cage again." heard the leader saying a deep voice, which was the closest to him.

After a few seconds, his vision was clear again and saw that a man in a white coat listening his heart with a stetoscope to examinate him. Skipper tried to escape immediatly but the doctor was faster and got him. He pressed him on the examination table and reached immediately after a syringe. Skipper got a shock when he saw the syringe. Instinctively, he tried to defend himself, but the doctor pressed him on his throat to get him calm. The leader wasn´t able to breathe and gasped. "Hey Doc. What are you doing. Give him a sedative." said an assistant. "No, that would affect the test results. There has to be no drugs in his body. But I've never seen a penguin who has fought so hard." replied the doctor, and pressed further on Skipper's trachea.

"What are they doing with the syringe in your hand?" "This is only a serum that neutralizes the drugs that were already given to him to get him calm. But when he saw the syringe, he completely freaked out." replied the doctor, but Skipper didn´t get all of this anymore. He got dizzy, because he couldn´t breathe and passed out.

A few minutes later he woke up again. He was back in his cage. Skipper propped himself up with his flippers and tried to sit up. His throat hurt, but at least he was not as dizzy as the last time he passed out. The leader took a look around. He was in a laboratory room without any windows. The whole room was bathed in a dim light and some medical equipment hummed softly. Skipper panicked, he didn´t know what the doctor wanted to do to him. The anxiety was continuing to spread and he tried with all his strength to open the cage. But he had no chance. Skipper lost control. Out of sheer fear, he pounded frantically against the bars and tried to do anything.

But after a few minutes more he gave up. Exhausted, he sat down in a corner and cried: "Guys, please help me. Get me out of here." But no one could hear him. "It´s hopless." sounded a voice from one of the dark corners. "Who's there?" Skipper asked, looking around. In one corner there was another cage, and inside it sat another, little penguin. It was still a child, a little younger than Private. "Who are you?" Skipper asked, surprised. "I'm Amy. I got here a few days ago." said the little girl. "What is this all supposed to be?" Skipper asked, relieved that he wasn´t all alone. "This is an animal testing lab. I had been lucky because they didn´t got me for any testing yet. But I keep hearing screams. This is so terrible. I want to get out of here." Amy moaned and started to cry. "Who are you?" she asked in tears.

"I'm Skipper. I don´t know how but we gotta get out of here. My team will save us, I'm sure." Skipper said. "Your team?" Amy asked, suddenly curious. "Uh, yes, my friends. I'm sure they'll get us out of here." Skipper said confidently. "Where are you from?" "inquired Amy. "From the Central Park Zoo. And you?" Skipper also asked curiously. "I'm from the Hoboken Zoo. Is not very nice there, but I live with my sister." Amy replied, and stopped suddenly.

Skipper got also very quiet, he heard footsteps in the hallway. Slowly the door has been opened and another doctor came in. He went straight to the leader, who was getting ready to attack the man. Skipper watched as he slowly opened the lock of his cage and jumped on him. He quickly slipped out, but the doctor was immediately behind him and pushed Skipper into the corner. "Too bad that I´m not allowed to give you an anesthesia, because this will affect the test result. I have to get you by force." muttered the man with a grin. He fetched a stun gun from the pocket of his coat and tried to hit Skipper. But the penguin was faster. He jumped on the shelf next to him and tried to escape.

But the doctor reacted quickly and caught him with the shock before he could belly slide to the door. A painful tingling sensation ran through his body and within a second all got black for him. The doctor took him and Amy knew he would be the next test object.


	4. A long Way and The First Torture

4.1 A long Way

It took a few minutes for Private and Kowalski to understand, in which danger Skipper was now. "What will do to him?" Private asked anxiously. "I assume that they will give him newly developed drugs to test their effect. The worst thing is that these medications could have terrible side effects, or that they are poisonous at all. There is also the possibility of an allergic reaction. Whatever, we have to save him. No animal survived such a thing a long time. The will torture him until he dies. " Kowalski said soberly. Private shuddered with fear. So there was no time to lose now. Rico had Alice driven to madness now, so she furiously pounded against the offices door. Quickly penguins escaped through the window and ran quickly back to the HQ. They had to prepare the rescue mission very quickly.

"So, we gotta get to New Jersey somehow. Fortunately, our daily fish supplier moves randomly every day to this place. So we just have to sneak into the van and can get along. Let's go, men." Kowalski called and gathered together all the things that he might need. He gave them to Rico so that he could carry them in his stomach. Private took his last peanut butter winky which he also gave Rico to swallow. "Private, we won´t have time for lunch." Kowalski said with an admonishing tone. "This is not for me. This is for Skipper. He will definitely be hungry when we´ll find him. I don´t think these nasty doctors give him something to eat." Private replied, as if that wasn´t ovious. The scientist rolled his eyes and climbed up the ladder.

The other two followed him. Quiet and fast they crept to the entrance of the zoo without anybody noticing them. "There it is." Kowalski whispered to the others. The driver got a few boxes into the van.. As fast as the wind they whisked inside and hid. The man closed the door after he was finished. A few minutes later the vans engine was started. Now they had no choice but to wait.

All three penguins were too worried to talk. Their thoughts were with Skipper, who probably has to suffer under painful medical tests and syringes. They pushed a few boxes around and built themselves a small hiding place, because it would be a longer journey. The time just wouldn´t pass, and Private got impatient. "Do you think we can make it in time?" asked the little penguin. "I hope so. Skipper is tough so they´ll have a very hard time with him." Kowalski chuckled, but the concern was written all over his face. He knew that such people were cruel and wouldn´t be afraid to hurt Skipper if he wouldn´t obey.

Even Private was in huge concern about his leader. He could hardly think. The little penguin wouldn´t even think about finding Skipper dead. He was terribly afraid of the condition Skipper could be. Rico´s thought were also with his leader. He would be so glad beat all the doctors up who wanted to hurt Skipper. But now they had no choice but to wait and hope that their leader is fine.

**Note: In this part, some medical stuff will be mentioned. I hope you understand the meaning of that and enjoy reading this chapter**

4.2 The First Torture

Skipper regained consiousness. His flipper was hurting, where he had been caught by the shocker. He felt the cold iron of the examination table where he laid. The doctor had chained him down on his feet and flippers, so that he could hardly move. The bright lights of the surgery light seemed to burn into his eyes.

Skipper felt his heart painful beating. He looked around, but he was alone. With all his strength he tried to break free from the shackles, but it was useless. Beside him was a small table made of surgical steel on which were some scalpels and syringes. The metal sparkled threatening at him and he hoped they wouldn´t get involved at this experiment.

Suddenly he saw the handle of the door was pushed down and he was hyperventilating. "Go away. Leave me alone." Skipper growled, hoping that the doctor would disappear. But the door opened, and even two men in white coats came into the room. They talked in medical jargon, so Skipper could hardly understand what they were talking about. "Let´s carry on testing the new drug against lung cancer metastases. The last time the animal unfortunately, died in the middle of the test and we had no useful result." said one doctor to the other.

He just nodded and turned to a closet that was standing in the corner. The other doctor turned to Skipper and stepped closer. "Just be calm, little badger. It won´t hurt at all." he whispered ironical with an evil chuckle, because he knew very well that this experiment would be very painful. He pulled up a small mobile unit with monitor and several buttons. "Hook him up, so we can monitor the reaction of his body. I don´t wanna have this little guy ruin our test by dying." said one doctor who took a small vial of clear liquid out of the closet.

Skipper was scared and hardly able to think. Full of panic, he watched as the doctor stuck the elektrodes on his chest, which were connected by cable to the monitor. The machine was an ECG. The leader snapped after the doctor's hand with his beak, but he pulled it away quickly. With angry face he looked at him. "You won´t be able to snap at me when the experiment is finished." said the man in white coat and reached for a syringe.

He gave it to his colleague, who filled it with the clear liquid from the bottle. He went to the examination table, now there was no escape for the penguin. Skipper heard the ECG beeping faster as the doctor approached with the syringe. Now it was not only the fear of injection, but also what would happen to him when he injected him the drug.

The leader watched as the needle approached. The doctor pushed his beak slightly to the side to get to his neck. Skipper held his breath as the needle dug painfully into his vein. His heart raced as it would shatter. Slowly the doctor pushed the plunger down and injected the drug. It seemed to last an eternity before he finally pulled out the needlen again. Skipper hoped it was over now. The two doctors took up their clipboards and took notes. A few seconds after the needle has been pulled out again Skipper felt a painful tingling in his chest. He hoped it would go away again, but it became stronger and spread to the rest of his body.

The doctors noticed that immediately and made further notes. "It's like the last time That stuff hurts like hell." said one. "It´s all clear now. The drug is supposed to destroy cancer cells. But if there are no cancerous cells, it attacks healthy cells that is causing the pain. I gave him a smaller dose, so that he doesn´t suffer a cardiac arrest due to pain, like the former test object but I think it didn´t work. "said the other doctor.

But Skipper was so in pain so that he didn´t pay attention. He listened as his ECG beeped faster. A brief look at the monitor told him that his blood pressure and his pulse was already out of control. He only hoped that it would stop again, but the pain continued and increased. It was like his internal organs caught fire. Burning crawled through his body and made it impossible for him to think.

Even the doctors noticed that Skipper was just before a cardiac failure. "Tachycardia!" shouted one of the two excited. The other doc. got quickly another syringe and injected it into Skipper´s veins. The leader felt the pain got easier. He calmed down again and gasped.

Second by second, his heart beat more slowly and regularly again. "Well, we have initiated a tachycardia. That shouldn´t have happened. But can be controlled with morphine. Lessons learned." muttered one of the doctors and wrote something on his clipboard. Skipper didn´t care about anything anymore. He was weak and breathing heavily. His chest ached from the tachycardia, but he hoped that the doctors would finallyleave him alone now.

"So, I guess that's enough now for the little guy. We gotta get him back into his cage and watch for any side effect symptomes." said one of the doctors. Skipper could feel the shackles broke around his flippers and feet. But he was too weak to move. He even wasn´t able to start an escape attempt at all.

The doctor pulled the electrodes of the ECG from his chest and felt his pulse again. The leader really would like to pierce his hand with his beak when the doctor lifted him off the table, but in that moment he lost consiousness.


	5. Waiting for Arrival and Side Effects

5.1 Waiting for Arrival

They felt like they would be for hours on the road now. But actually it has only half an hour passed since they entered the van. Private had a queasy feeling in his stomach. He felt that danger threatened them and that Skipper didn´t have much time left. The three sat there in silence. Suddenly the truck stopped and they hoped that they would be in New Jersey now.

But Kowalski said that they couldn´t have arrived yet. The Penguins heard footsteps around the truck. They quickly hid behind the boxes, but the steps went away from the truck. Kowalski ran to the door and tried to open it, but it was closed tightly. They were stuck.

A few minutes later, the steps came back. Apparently the driver had just a short break from driving. The engine started again and they drove on. Private got sick of the silence among the three of them. "Kowalski, what if we don´t find Skipper?" Private asked hesitantly. "We will, don´t worry. I'm just hoping that he's OK. These doctors can be quite cruel." Kowalski said, and looked sorrowfully on the ground.

The scientist often heard of the bad things that happen in animal research laboratories. But he couldn´t tell private, because he was already concernded anyway. Rico was getting tired of the long sitting around. He jumped up and looked for something to eat. But the boxes were all empty. With a growling stomach the crazy penguin sat back to his friends.

Private wasn´t able to sit still. He worried so much about his leader. "Kowalski, do you actually know where the lab is? I mean, we are now driving to New Jersey, but we don´t have any idea where to go." asked the little penguin nervous. The scientist hesitated with his answer, because he hadn´t got any sign of a plan yet. But he was confident that his brain won´t let him down.

Another eternity later the truck stopped again. Now all three were excited. They waited hidden behind the boxes for the hatch to open up. It slowly opened and the driver climbed aboard. He started to unload boxes and in an unguarded moment, the three penguins slipped into the open.

They were standing in front of a large warehouse surrounded by containers and forklifts. The three had arrived in New Jersey, but now came the hard part of the trip, because they didn´t know where to go. Private and Rico turned to Kowalski and looked at him quizzically. The scientist tried to hide that he had no idea what they should do now and thoughtfully ran back and forth. But also after five minutes of thinking his brain didn´t show up any idea. "Kowalski, what now. What are we going to do?" Private asked with an accusatory tone in his voice.

5.2 Side effects

Skipper slowly woke up. He felt terribly miserable. But suddenly he felt someone gently petting his back. He was turned around. Amy sat next to him and looked at him anxiously. "How are you?" she asked. Skipper wasn´t able to answer her. He felt like been hit by a train. His chest still hurts terribly. The leader tried to sit up, but he suddenly became incredibly dizzy and he fell back on his belly. He was too weak to move anyway. "Hey, you´re okay?. What have they done to you?" Amy asked again. "I-I do not know. But I've never had such pain. They have me injected some odd stuff and then I almost had a heart attack." Skipper murmured faintly.

"Why have we been put togheter in one cage?" Skipper asked, and coughed. "The doctors needed my cage for someone else and locked me to yours. I was worried about you. When the doctor brought you in again, I thought you were dead You've barely breathed." the girl told the leader, who slowly regained his painful memories of the experiment aka torture. He was afraid of what the injection had done to his body. "Look, they have set up a webcam to watch us." Amy said, pointing to the small camera that was standing next to their cage. "I think they want to watch what´s going to happen to me. I suppose that they´re observing the side effects of the medicine, not us." Skipper said bitterly, and felt that would get more and more worse with his condition.

Fivteen minutes later his prediction got fact. A terrible nausea rumbled in his stomach and he vomited through the bars. But instead of relief it was getting even worse. The nausea didn´t stop and he wasn´t able to stop the vomiting at all. Amy was with him and stroked his back. When he finally succeeded to stop throwing up, his feet weren´t able to carry him anymore and he fell down on his flippers.

With clenched eyes, he gasped for air. His stomach and his throat ached horribly, and made it difficult for him to breathe. "Maybe you should just lie down. You look terrible." Amy said comfortingly. But Skipper didn´t want to give up even when his body was beaten by the medicine. The leader really had to come up with an escape plan soon. But before he could start to think about something, the nausea rose up in him and he had to vomit again.

This time he even threw up some blood, which gave him a huge fright. Maybe Amy was right? He needed a rest, so he was fit again. Amy helped him up, because he could hardly walk anymore. "Wait a minute. You feel kind of hot." she said and put her flipper on his forehead. "Skipper you´re burning. You have a high fever and you really need to lie down quickly." Amy said anxiously.

But even in that moment Skipper felt how the fever drained the last strengh from his body. He couldn´t stand anymore and fell over. Amy caught him before he fell to the ground. She felt that the leader was breathing heavily. "Skipper, talk to me. How can I help you?" she asked anxiously. But Skipper didn´t have any power to answer her. The burning in his stomach spread to his body and leaded to severe pain. It felt exactly as he got the injection.

His fever rose within minutes and he got chills. Amy sat down beside him and support him because he even wasn´t able to sit anymore. "Skipper lie down. You have to rest." she said comforting and helped him to lie down. He just wanted to fall asleep immediately to escape the terrible pain, but couldn´t just leave the little girl in that trouble. But he was too exhausted. The side effects of the drug were just too much for his body. Everything inside his body revolted, and he got stomach cramps.

Amy couldn´t edure to watch as Skipper writhed in pain and pushed him gently down to the ground so he could lie down at last. The leader pressed his wings on his belly and rubbed it gently in hope that his stomach will finally calm down. But nothing helped. He didn´t know how long he could stand this pain. Amy felt completely helpless. Desperate, she ran to the webcam, and held her head through the bars. "What have you done to him. You demon docs. Do you have fun seeing someone suffering like that?" she shouted angrily at the camera.


	6. A Hidden Clue and Desperation and Pain

**Note: This chapter is going to be kind of emotional. In the worst parts of your life you recongize what is the most important thing to you. Thats all what I wanted to say by writting this one. So please give me some reviews. XOXO**

6.1 A Hidden Clue

"Kowalski, what should we do now?" Private asked desperately, because the concerns were driving him crazy. "Private, now calm down at last. We will find a way to save Skipper." said Kowalski who couldn´t stand the pressure of always setting things right anymore. He looked at him, because he wanted to give the little penguin an answer. The scientist recognized a pile of wooden boxes at the corner of the warehouse.

They got his attention immediatly. Without another word he waddled quickly to them in order to look closer. "What are you doing?" asked Private surprised but also slightly angry because Kowalski didn´t answer his question again. The boy was very disappointed by the scientist, who always had a plan.

Kowalski looked at the boxes, they looked as if they were lying here for ages. The wood was rotten and partially weathered. "Rico, crowbar." said the tall penguin and held five seconds later, one in his flippers. He quickly tried to break them up, but this was simply because the wood was damaged already. When he opened the box he saw some plastic bags lying in it.

With a strange feeling he got one out of the box. He opened the bag and he saw many small transparent bags, which contained a lot of small white pills. "Oh candy." Private said, reaching for one of the bags. "No. Don´t eat that, Private!" Kowalski screamed and beat him the bag from the flippers. "You can not eat everything that looks like candy anyway." Kowalski said, annoyed about Privates naivete.

The little boy looked very disappointed. At least some candy would have cheered him up a bit. "If it´s not candy then what is it?" Private asked and looked curiously at Kowalski. "I'm not sure but they might be illegal medicine. Or worse." murmured the scientist. "What worse." Private asked. "Uh, you don´t need to know that, because you're too young. Only one thing. Humans use it sometimes trying to make them feel better, but they don´t and actually the do incredible damage to their bodies by using it." Kowalski said, ending Private curiosity. "Okay, and how will this help us now?" asked the little man, but Kowalski didn´t answer him back again and dug inside the boxes. "Aha, here we got something." said Kowalski and hold a small pice of paper in his flippers.

He quickly unfolded it, but it was all quite blurred. But the penguin recognized the logo of the pharmaceutical company that he had seen on the web. Now their journey seemed to go on again, because under the loge a smeared adress was written on. "We have a clue." Kowalski said, satisfied and waddled passed the warehouse over to a industrial park of the city. He didn´t knew where he was going but the smoking chimneys of the factories showed them their path.

6.2 Desperation and Pain

Amy was in rage. She didn´t knew Skipper actually, but she couldn´t bear to see him suffer in pain like that. Furious, she looked into the camera and hoped that anybody noticed her. She waited a few minutes, but no one came. Everything was quiet, except for Skippers tortured moan. Quickly she turned around and saw the leader bending himself from pain on the floor. He never felt so terribly. Every disease and every injury he ever have had in his life were nothing compared to this now.

Skipper never wanted to know how it feels to die, but in that moment he seemed to feel exactly how this felt. In his mind, he tried to hide the pain and thought of his team. Where were they? Where was the clever Kowalski, whose options he could always rely on. Where was the maniac Rico, who was in for every fun, or for any disaster, and he blindly obeyed. And where was the small Private, who is always loyal on his side and he actually is like a little brother to Skipper?

All this seemed to be the most important and valuable things Skipper got in the world. How he could ever believe that he could be strong even without his team? He wanted to prove to them many times that he was always brave and courageous. But now he was vulnerable and at his very end. He never needed the help of his friends so much.

Skipper saw how desperate and anxious Amy looked at him when she turned around. She also couldn´t help him. Everything swam slowly in front of him. "Guys help me. Please, I need you so much." muttered the leader quietly. In his eyes burned desperate tears he tried to hold back with full force. Amy went back to him and knelt down beside him. She carefully laid her flipper on the flipper of the leader, who still kept them pressed on his stomach. "Skipper, don´t give up. We will find a way out of here. You have to hold out." she said softly, trying to distrack Skipper from his pain.

She watched him for a while, but then she got an idea. They set up the camera for observation. They wanted to see which symptoms Skipper developed after he got injected the stuff. "Skipper, try to get up." Amy said, trying to pull the leader up on his feet. But he was hardly able to stand up for even a second. "What are you doing?" Skipper muttered weakly. "You said that these doctors want to observe the side effects of your medication. If they see how you suffer from that, they maybe send someone who´s gonna examinate you. And then when he opens the cage, we have a chance to escape." said Amy and confidence shone in her eyes.

Skipper nodded and tried to get up. When he finally managed to get on his feet, the girl hold him tight and supported him at walking. They walked slowly to the camera. Amy helped Skipper to lie down again, so the webcam immediately recognized him. Now they had to wait. Skipper fervently hoped that Amy´s plan would work and stayed with anguished face lying on the floor.

A few minutes later, her plan seemed to be working effectively. Slowly the door of the laboratory was opened. A tall man came in, who was very familiar to Skipper. Suddenly, all his hopes vanished, becaus the man who was supposed to be their escape plan was Officer X.

Apparently he has given up the job as Exterminator X and was now specialized of torturing animals. Skipper bet that he would recognize him and that would be a completely disaster. "What's going on here? I ´ll never get peace with all the critters." he muttered angry and went quickly toward the cage of the two penguins.

Amy gave him a withering look and got ready to break out of the cage. Officer X watched them thoughtfully, until he finally recognized Skipper. "Wait a minute. I know you. You are the leader of the pesky Penguin Team, through which I lost so many jobs and nerves. Well now you're not as strong without your annoying friends. For that I have my revenge." Officer X said triumphantly, laughing diabolically. Skipper was scared. He felt that he couldn´t defend himself in his conditon especially not against a tall, muscular man. The leader knew he was going to pay now for all the pranks they had played on him.


	7. Obstacles and Revenge

7.1 Obstacles

The three penguins made their way into the industrial area of the city. It was a scary place. The roads between the drab concrete buildings were frightening. Private became a little paranoid, as something terrible would happen at any moment. Kowalski and Rico were also uneasy. Their jouney became just slowed down from fear. Like shadows they were creeping around, hoping not to be seen by anyone. Private thought of the poor Skipper. In this area there could just happen bad things to him, thought the little penguin. Even the bright blue sky has been covered under clouds and a cold, relentless wind blew through the streets and whirled old newspapers and dust.

Kowalski was on alert, because this dark area also gave him a fright. He could imagine well what could happen here behind closed doors. They barely talked with each other for not drawing attention to themselves, though the area was deserted. Private glanced at the many warehouses and buildings that were more threatening. Some of them were deserted, and seemed to fall in soon. "Watch out!" Kowalski suddenly shouted and jumped to the side as a man walked past them.

He also had a sinister expression on his face. Private quickly jumped behind Kowalski into one of the deserted halls. "Wow, that was close." murmured the little penguin. Now they had a short break. But in this hall, the feeling of threat was felt even more strongly. They heard a strange clicking, but they didn´t paid attention. But Rico started to scream suddenly. "Watchout, watchout". The other two looked at him in wonder, but it was too late. The entire warehouse seemed to collapse. "Quick, get out of here." Kowalski shouted to the others and slipped through a hole in the wall to outside. Rico followed him quickly, but Private reacted too slowly.

Kowalski and Rico watched as the hall collapsed from save outside. Dust and pieces of the building has been swirled into the air. They were lucky to have slipped out in time. Kowalski looked around. But where was the small Private? The scientist got a stinging sensation in his stomach when he realized that Private was not there. "Rico, where is Private?" Kowalski asked with a hint of panic.

The maniac penguin just shrugged his flippers and also looked frantically around. "Oh God, I hope he was not in the warehouse when it collapsed." muttered Kowalski. When the dust settled after a few minutes the two started to call after Private. But no response. The scientist feared the worst. But then he saw Rico pushing aside a few of the stones. "Private, Private" he cried desperately.

Kowalski ran to him immediatly and looked in horror. Private was buried under the last fragments of the warehouse. Motionless. He looked as he was dead and the two penguins tried to get him out. Rico managed to pull Privat out of the stones of the warehouse and carried him outside. Kowalski was right on the spot to look after him. "Private, wake up. Come on, please." said the scientist felt desperate and felt Privates pulse on his neck.

7.2 Revenge

Skipper trembled as he watched the hands of the officers opening the doors of his cage. Amy responded quickly, and stood before the leader, as if she wanted to protect him. But Officer X slapped her aside and she slammed against the bars. She hit the ground and remained motionless. Skipper wanted to escape quickly, but the man caught him quickly. He held him in his iron grip, making it impossible to escape. Skipper could feel that the mans fingers were digging into his body. Officer X started with a nasty grin and looked to Skipper, who tried to escape with all his strength from his hands. But the man squeezed him tighter and Skipper gasped after air. His ribs ached under the steely grip of the Officer. It seemed as if he wanted to break every bone inside Skippers body.

"Sorry, little penguin. If you´d been nicer to me I'd carry you now to the doctor as gently as possible. But since you and your friends ruined my life this short trip will be much more painful as it supposed to be. I tell you, I would like to torture you even more than the doctors will do, but I have the order to take you to your next test. " X said with devilish voice. Skippers heart raced painful. A further test? Why are they doing this to me, he wondered. The grip of the officer was getting harder and Skipper could hardly breathe because his lungs were compressed like he would be stuck in a trash compactor.

Slowly, Officer X went with him to the door, much too slow. He apperantly wanted to give him as much pain as possible before he will be tortured by the doctors again. When they went outside and Officer X closed the door, Skipper saw his chance. Quickly he pricks with his beak into the hand of the man who dropped him then. Skipper rolled to the side quickly to get to safety, but the officer noticed that immediately. Completely unexpected, he put his foot after him. Skipper couldn´t avoid that and Officer X kicked him into the stomach. The leader slammed against the wall and remained motionless on the ground.

Although he was conscious, his whole body felt as if all his bones were broken. Skipper could hardly breathe from the pain and looked blurry to Officer X, who stepped with bleeding hands toward him. "Stupid creature. Do you think you can escape from me? Now you´ll get what you deserved. I just hope that internal bleedings don´t mess up the test results." Officer X muttered and lifted Skipper roughly from the ground. The penguin screamed from pain when he got into his iron grip again. Apparently some of his ribs were actually broken.

Skipper felt the stabbing pain in his chest and gasped. But Officer X didn´t stop to suffocate him. Slowly they moved forward again and the man brought the injured penguin into the same room where he was for the first test. Here he would suffer the same pain as the first time again. Skipper was despaired, he didn´t know how to survive this time. His vision blurred as Officer X chained him on the table again. "Please don´t. Please. Just leave me alone." Skipper prayed. "Don´t worry penguin, if the doctor is finished with you, you will feel no pain anymore. More specifically, you won´t feel anything anymore. Because you'll be dead" Officer X laughed and sat down next to the examination table and waited until the doctor came into the room.

Skipper felt his heart was almost freaking out. Painfully it pounded against his broken ribs. After five minutes the doctor came in. Skipper saw him as his executioner. He came closer with a merciless eye. The doctor took one of the many syringes that laid on a side table without any word. Slowly the needle approached Skipper's veins. The concentrated gaze of the doctor met Skippers embossed look of pain and suddenly he stopped. "What's going on with you?" asked the doctor suddenly and put the syringe aside. He looked angry at Officer X.

"He wanted to escape I had to prevent it rudely." Officer X stammered sheepishly. "Yes, and so you´ve injured the test subject seriously. Now, the experiment can´t take place anymore, you idiot." said the doctor indignantly. Officer X got up and left the room without any comment. "So now we´ll look how bad your injury is." said the doctor with a strange soft voice.

Skipper was relieved, not a painful test today. The man in white coat removed the shackles around his feet and flippers and pulled up the surgery lamp. Skipper just remained laying still because he could hardly move from pain anyway. He watched as the doctor felt his stomach and chest to check his injury. The doctor noticed Skippers weak breathing and stopped the examination. "Sure, you have a lot of pain." muttered the man, reaching for a needle.

Slowly, he pierced it into Skippers jugular vein. He quickly conected it with a transparent thin tube and stuck it all with a plaster. He turned and ran to the closet where the previous doctor had already taken out the stuff which almost killed Skipper before. But this time the doctor pulled out a infusion and attached the tube to it. Skipper was able to read with blurred view what was written on the. Morphine. Not two seconds later he felt the pain subsided and the doctor continued his examination.

"So, we have two broken ribs and contusions of internal organs. I will ensure that this officer will be fired. We need intact test objects." murmured the doctor and took notes on his clipboard. "This test object will be ready for another test not before tomorrow." Skipper felt a incredible relief when he heard this.

He looked at the doctor who was fixing the shackles at his feet and flippers again. Altough Skipper hated all the doctors in this world, but in that moment he was just thankful that this doctor had taken the pain from him. The penguin closed his eyes and hoped that the morphine infusion would increase his pain-level until tomorrow at least. He heard as the doctor went out, but soon Skipper fell asleep from exhaustion.


	8. Under Pressure and Losses

8.1 Under Pressure

"Private, come on. Wake up, boy!" Kowalski shouted in panic. He couldn´t feel Privates pulse anymore. The scientist started to press his flippers on Privates chest to get his heart beating again. After a few desperate seconds, Private woke up again. Kowalski and Rico were so relieved. "Private, how do you feel?" the tall pengin asked and started to examinate him after injuries. "Ugh, what happended, Kowalski?" the little penguin asked a little confused. "Well, the warehouse collapsed and buried you under it. But Rico managed to get you out of the mess. Now tell me, how are you feeling?" Kowalski asked again. "I don´t know. Everything hurts a little. But it isn´t that bad." Private muttered but it was a lie. He could hardly move because his bones felt like pulverized.

The scientist noticed immediatly the lie. He knew that Privat wouldn´t admit to him that he was in pain."Private, I think you are standing in shock and probably a few of your bones are broken. Try to get up slowly." Kowalski said, and helped the kid getting up. But his feet couldn´t carry him and Private collapsed again.

"Oh man, that keeps us only. We gotta find Skipper quickly. Leave me here and continue searching without me." Private said bravely, but Kowalski shook his head. "No we don´t. We can´t just leave you here. Come on, lean on us, maybe you can walk." Kowalski said and pulled Private up on his feet again. Private moaned in pain, but at least they got forward again. But just very slowly. Private got horrible accusations. If he had been faster, he wouldn´t be injured now and could continue the searching after their leader.

Kowalski wanted to disappear from the collapsed warehouse immediatly, because he assumed that few humans will be here any minute. They slowly walked and looked carefully around. A few streets away, the scientists saw the logo of the company on a fixed faded iron door. At least they finally arrived at their destination. But now the question arose, how they could enter it.

Kowalski thought, but Rico spat out a stick of dynamite and was about to blow up the door. Quickly Kowalski grabbed the dynamite to prevent another chaos. "Are you out of mind? We gotta avoid any attention. We quietly sneak into the building." Kowalski said with admonishing look and Rico swallowed his dynamite again. Kowalski looked around and discovered a small window that was not locked.

He slowly climbed up the wall and opened the window quietly. Then he helped Rico to carry Private through the window because he wasn´t able to do that himself. When they finally got in, the penguins were standing in a gloomy-looking lab. Kowalski really wanted to take a look around if they weren´t under pressure to find Skipper.

They ran to the next door that led into the hall. But suddenly they heard a loud scream and the penguins got a freezing rush down their spine. "What´s happening here?" Private asked, looking anxiously at Kowalski, who seemed to ask himself exactly the same question. "Private, I know you're too young for such a thing. But the scientists who work here are very cruel people. They don´t care about the pain the animals are suffering. The most important thing for them is to get the desired results I just hope that they didn´t do something like that to Skipper. " murmured the scientist and tried to hide the last words

But Private felt Kowalski's concern and was afraid. "So we gotta hurry." cried the little boy and ran down the hall. The other two followed him quickly, because they feared that the boy would be discoverd by a doctor

8.2 Losses

Skipper woke up after an hour he fell asleep. He felt a little better, thanks to the morphine, but he was still very weak. Inwardly he cursed his body, which bad condition prevented him from escaping. He heard footsteps approaching the door, and a desperate plea. The voice seemed familiar. "Amy?" Skipper asked in a hoarse voice and turned his head slightly to the side to see something. The door opened and a doctor came in. It was the same that had tormented him at the first test and he had Amy in his hands, who tried to break free from his grip. Now Skipper understood. Since he could not make this test, Amy was now the substitute.

The leader felt incredible anger in his stomach. If the girl would die, that would be all his fault. As an adult penguin it was up to him to protect the little girl. But now she would pay for his weakness. Skipper watched as the doctor chained her on the examinaton table right next to him. "Skipper, you're alive. I´ve feared the worst." Amy called over to him. But Skipper didn´t know what to answer.

"Skipper, can you hear me? How are you feeling? Are you hurt?" Amy asked with a slight hint of panic in her voice. "Amy, no matter what will happen. You have to be strong, okay? You have to be brave." said the leader, with a trembling voice, because he knew exactly what would happen to her. But he couldn´t tell her that he was supposed to get through this test actually. Skipper watched as the doctor approached her with a syringe. He couldn´t do anything. "No. It´s not her fault. Give me the stuff. She's much too young to die." Skipper said, but the doctor didn´t even notice him.

The leader could only watch as the doctor gave Amy the shot, and a few seconds after the stuff was injected Skipper heard tortured screams. Amy cried her soul out. She had incredible pain. Skipper felt so helpless and guilty. Amy turned her head at him and looked at the leader, with tears in her eyes. "Why, why? Skipper, please help me. I can´t take this anymore." cried the girl, and succumbed to the pain again.

Skipper knew exactly how she felt now. A pain that made you forget everything around you. It´s like the doctor injected fire into your veins. Skipper couldn´t bear to see Amy suffering like that anymore. He tried to break free with all his strengh. But he had no chance against the iron chains.

Now he could only watch passively. He watched the doctor, who brought up another syringe. The leaders hoped that she yould get the morphine too that had saved his life when he was lying in pain. "Well, we have a tachycardia again. But we will test another medicine to reduce the heart rate now. We finally need a usable result." Skipper heard the doctor muttering and panicked. He didn´t know what would happen with Amy when she was getting another drug.

But it was too late. The doctor injected the stuff and Amy started to gasp after air. She wasn´t able to breath anymore. But the doctor just didn´t care about and let her suffer instead of doing something. Skipper looked at Amy, who is writhing in pain on the table. She seemed to suffocate. Skipper heard her breathing became shorter and his heart began to race painful.

He knew that the girl was about to die. Two minutes later Amy's breathing stopped completely and she died under the very eyes of the doctor. The leader was shocked. He should die in her place. Without noticing it, tears started running down his face. He couldn´t do anything anymore, he was completely helpless. The doctor had his test result now, the drug was lethal. He was happy with that result and removed the shackles of the motionless Amy. When he lifted her off the table he threw a quick glance at Skipper, which told him that he was the next who´s going to die.


	9. Bad News and Silent Tears in Darkness

**Note: Warning! This chapter is extremely sad and may can cause depressions. So read carefully. And please review. XOXO**

9.1 Bad News

Private ran faster and faster with the hope that they could find Skipper finally. Even his pain did not prevent him. He ran along the dark corridor. "Private, wait!" Kowalski called after him. But the boy didn´t listen to him. Kowalski suddenly saw two human shadows, which seemed to come right into the hallway where Private was running.

"Private!" Kowalski shouted again to stop the penguin, but it was too late. Private ran straight into their arms. "Look what we got here?" Asked a man in a white coat to the other. "That's perfect, a penguin. The one we had, had died before, right? This little guy here would be a good replacement. "Answered his colleague. Private suddenly got a numb feeling all over his body . A penguin died?, he asked himself.

" No, "he shouted at once. All his emotions broke out now. The doctor dropped the small penguin fright and private landed hard on the floor. But his grief made it impossible for him to hide or just to move anyway. He just lay on the floor and cried. He wept as he had never even cried. Kowalski and Rico watch the whole thing, and didn´t noticed the comment of the doctor. "Rico, smoke bomb." whispered the scientist so they could get Private quickly out of danger.

Private did not notice that he was suddenly surrounded by a dense cloud of smoke. The both men started to cough, as the smoke also reached and views and fogged them. But Rico and Kowalski made their way to Private and got him out of the smoke. They ran back to the room where they got into the lab. All of them were out of breath, Private only buried his face under his wings. "Private, what is going on here?" Kowalski said after a few minutes. He had never seen the kid so upset.

But Private didn´t answer him. Now, the scientists got impatiently, and sat down to Private on the ground. He moved his wings from Privates face and looked into his eyes.

Kowalski had never seen so much despair as the little penguin who was sitting right in front of him. "Private, quiet. Deep breath ... now tell me what happened." Kowalski said emphatically, looking deep into his eyes. "Oh Kowalski, Skipper is dead" murmured the little man. Those words burned like fire in his stomach.

"What?" No, you sure? " said Kowalski, who could understand all the excitement very well now. Private nodded silently. "One of the doctors said that a penguin is dead. We came too late." Private howled and a further stream of tears flowed from his eyes. Kowalski and Rico were stunned. They couldn´t accept what Private just told them. "Skipper, dead?" muttered Rico and couldn´t keep his tears in the fence any longer.

Kowalski also showed his silent grief. But his head was boiling. He went through everything again. But all his thoughts got destroyed by the thought of Skipper's death. They had to do something. "Private, what exactly did the man say." stammered the scientist, trying to keep a cool head. "He has said that a penguin has died. But I've told you that before." Private mumbled surprised at the question. "It could have been someone else." Kowalski said, clinging with desperation onto this glimmer of hope.

9.2 Silent Tears in Darkness

Skipper was returned to his cage. Still the cries of the dead Amy echoed in his head. He couldn´t believe what just happened. He knew the girl hardly, but nevertheless he was filled by deep sadness and despair. Also, anger and self-hatred was represented in his mind. Why he had not been able to prevent? Why he could only watch helplessly as a child was killed right in front his eyes?

Those thoughts went like a never-ending circle in his head. When he was back in his cage, was overwhelmed by a sudden darkness. Around him and inside him. Half an hour ago here has been sitting a penguin girl, save and sound. But now everything was surrounded by an eerie presence of death.

Skipper couldn´tt stop his tears. Even the thought of his friends was too much. Where were they? Maybe something happened to them because they wanted to save him? As he also twisted and turned, he gave all the blame for everything that happened himself. He felt weak and alone. Skipper sat the in darkest corner of the cage and fell in despair.

He had finally reached a situation where he saw no point to live. Why did all die around him? Why didn´t he die? "Why can´t I just die, why do I have to suffer so much?" the leader asked himself and pressed his flippers on his face. The time passed slowly, and with any further minute that elapsed, anger grew on his Skipper. He had always believed that he was the only one who could set everything right again. But now he was aware that he was the one who was turning everything into chaos. The only hope he had were his friends, who were maybe out there desperately searching for him. "Kowalski, Rico, Private Please come. Quickly. I need you, my brothers. Please don´t leave me alone here." Skipper whimpered desperately, but the more he hoped the desperation grew inside him.

Skipper sat there about half an hour. His eyes were burning now, and his feathers were soaked in bitter tears. But suddenly he heard something. Steps came closer to the room and the leader was prepared for anything. He heard quiet voices coming closer and closer. "Did you see the three penguins?" asked one of the voices. "Yes, I did ..." said another.

Skippers heart clutched painfully. Three penguins? This could only be his friends. But what did the man do to them?, He wondered. Skipper heard only snatches of words, but suddenly dropped the sentence, that Skipper had feared for so long. "Did you see the bodies?" asked a voice again, with no response. But Skipper was painfully aware that his friends were also dead now.

"No, no, that can´t be!" Skipper growled into the dark. Anger and sadness mingled now. The leader had lost his last spark of hope. Now he didn´t see any reason to keep on living. The only thing he wanted was to die to see his dead friends again. And if he didn´t die by the doctors, or through this place here, he would have to die by himself.

**Note: I know this is kind of confusing but everything is just a missunderstanding. Kowalski and the other thought that Skipper was dead. And Skipper thought that his team is dead. **


	10. The Worst Case

10. The Worst Case

The three penguins were still sitting in the dark laboratory room. They didn´t know what they should do now. And yet they still had a tiny hope that Skipper would still be alive. "Kowalski, what are we going to do now?" Private asked in a sad voice. But the scientist just shrugged his shoulders, because he went out of options in that special case. They never wasted a single thought about what would happen if Skipper or another member of the team would die.

Although they thought about two times that they had lost Skipper forever, but this time, it was different. This time it was almost sure. It was hopeless, but Kowalski did´t give up. "We could continue to search for him, even if he is dead. He shouldn´t have his last rest in such a place. If the worst case really happening, we will make it out here and organize a funeral that will give him the last honour." Kowalski said sadly. However, Rico and Private nodded silently. They agreed that Skipper shouldn´t be left here even when he´s dead.

"Fine, we'll keep searching. I hope everything will find a good ending." Private said with a hopeful plea in his voice. The three stood up and made their way into corridor, where they have previously taken a panic escape. They looked carefully, but this time, no one was nearby. Quietly the three penguins followed the corridor that seemed to be getting darker. Behind the many closed doors, where they passed by, frightening noises were heard.

The three knew that they had to hurry. But behind the doors they heard low voices muttering. Immediately, they realized that there still had to be other animals that were caught here. Rico quicly cracked the lock on the door and the penguins went into another dark room. When they entered those voices were silenced quickly and an eerie silence filled the room. "Who's there?" asked someone in the darkness. Kowalski knew immediately that there was another animal here. "We came to save you." Private murmured softly and anxiously. "Rico, we need light. Go." said Kowalski and Rico spat out a flashlight.

They lit the infinite darkness of the room and saw a cage in which a shadow was moving. "Who are you?" Kowalski asked, trying to block his fear. "I´m Raven and you?" replied the shadow and stepped into the beam of the flashlight. What the penguins thought to be a shadow turned out to be jet-black cat. His piercing green eyes, saw the penguins in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Raven asked, surprised. "We are looking for our friend." Private said and stepped closer to the cage.

"Is he a penguin too?" asked the black cat curious. The three nodded, hoping that Raven could tell them something about Skipper. "So it's a male penguin?" Raven asked again and the penguins were very confused by this question. "Yes, why?" Kowalski said. "Well, because about an hour ago a penguin died here. But it was a girl, I think." said Raven.

The three penguins fell on a huge sigh of relief. Skipper so was not the one who had died. "You have been saying that a female penguin has died. Then it couldn´t be Skipper. I knew it." Kowalski said cheerfully, looking to the others, who were also relieved. But they still had to hurry, more than ever. They had to look after Skipper quickly and were happy that they got someone, who helped them. "Rico get him out of the cage." said the scientist and the maniac penguin immediately went to work.

After a few minutes Raven was finally free. "I thank you with all my heart. You saved my life. And I will help you in your search. I hope that it is not in vain." Raven said, and slid elegant past them. Rico opened the door again and they slipped quietly back into the corridor. With an extra pair of eyes their confidence grew. But Raven heard something coming closer. "Come on, quickly. Hide." The cat hissed softly and looked quickly for a hiding place for the penguins and himself. They heard a door fall into the lock and steps echoing on the floor.

A man who seemed very familiar to the penguins came around the corner. "Kowalski, it´s Officer X." Private murmured softly, trying to get to see more. But as he got closer, they saw something that took their breath away. "Look. Oh no, please don´t. This can´t be." Kowalski muttered shocked. Officer X got someone in his clutch, they had searched all the time.

"Skipper!" called Private but Rico held his beak tight, so they were not noticed. But something made them afraid. Skipper laid motionless in Officer X's arms and looked as if he wasn´t alive anymore. Suddenly a doctor came into the corridor. "What are you doing with the penguin?" asked the man "I guess there is no hope for this little guy here anymore. He is very sick and he´s not getting better, never again. I´ll get him just to be euthanized." Officer X replied with a sardonic grin.

**Note: I put this chapter as the first of two for building up some tension. What happened to Skipper you´ll find out in the next chapter. But you could guess what happened. please review. XOXO**


	11. Join Me In Death

**Note: This chapter is going to be very sad. It´s happening before chapter 10. So don´t be confused. Don´t read if you don´t want to cry. I warned you. But reviews are very welcome. BTW this is not an ending.**

11. Join me in Death

Skipper sat in complete darkness. Softly his tears were falling down and every minute they got more and more. He´d never felt so miserable. Even the physical pain was pushed back from the emotional pain. Skipper had lost everything. His life was meaningless, thought the leader. It was like he fell into a deep, dark hole, were he would never escape from.

The leader had to do something. But without his friends it was pointless to go on for him. He looked around, but in the eternal darkness of the room, he could hardly see anything. The leader got up and walked to the door of his cage. But this time it was open. The doctor had forgotten to lock it again. But what sense would it make to escape from this hell now? Skipper just wanted to die here and now. Finally, he had no one in this cold world anymore. No friends, no one.

The more he thought of this idea, his doubts vanished. He would put an end to his life, that was the only thing he was sure about. It would be easy, perhaps even painless, thought Skipper. It was the last option he had left. Finally, he didn´t know whether he would ever be healthy again, after he had received these drugs. What was a life worth if you had no one who loves you anymore? If the body would just be tortured by pain? Skipper knew no way out. He felt an unpleasant stinging in his chest, which was not a physical pain.

The leader closed his eyes and saw the pictures of his friends in his thoughts. Now that he saw them so clearly before his eyes, a new wave of tears appeared, that ran down his face relentlessly. He let himself falling on the floor. "Why, why? Rico, Kowalski, Private, come back to me. Please don´t leave me alone!" Skipper yelled frantically into the darkness that almost suffocated him. The leader laid on his stomach and covered his face with his wings. He did nothing but cry, but one thing was clear to him now. Skipper had to join his friends to death, so that the pain and sadness will stop.

But how will he do it? The leader could hardly think straight and climbed out of the cage. With tear-stained eyes, he looked up to a closet, which stood in the corner of the room. He slowly walked up to it. "Should I really do that?", the penguin asked himself. The doubts came back, but as the memories of his team appeared in his thoughts, the doubts vanished once again. He approached the closet very slowly, because that would probably be the last steps, he waddled in his life. When he arrived at the closet, he opened it and the door creaked.

Right in front of him him spread a huge collection of drugs that should make his death easy. He saw a small can of sleeping pills. This should be his road to death, he decided. It would be an easily and gently slide into the death, because he didn´t want to suffer more pain. With trembling flippers he grabbed the can, that contained a simple and painless death.

He opened it slowly and it was filled to the brim with small, white pills. Skipper looked at it a few seconds and decided to do it finally. He would get to a place that was without pain and grief. Skipper would see his friends and the little Amy again.

Slowly, he waddled back to his cage because he would want to die here. Skipper put the small can in the middle of the cage and sat down beside it. He would swallow all the pills, so that nothing could go wrong. The leader closed his eyes and saw his friends in front of him, hugging him with joy. "I'll be right with you, my brothers. I will take this step just to see you again. I will follow you into death." Skipper murmured softly and sadly.

After these theatralic last words, Skipper closed his eyes again and breathed deeply. This would be his last breath. He took one of the pills and shoved it into his beak. They were big, but he gulped down quickly. As he had done that, he took a second tablet and swallowed it quickly too. And he went on. Slow a strange feeling spread in his body. An incredible fatigue. But Skipper swallowed a few more pills. His flippers gradually felt weak and numb. He felt the pain of his broken ribs and the pain that had caused the medication, slowly got easier.

After a few minutes he was already so weak that he couldn´t sit anymore and collapsed to the floor, next to the can of pills. But he didn´t stop to swallow more pills. His vision blurred and he felt his heartbeat and his breathing getting more and more slowly. It worked and was easy. But after about ten sleeping pills, he couldn´t lift his flippers to get more pills anymore. Slowly, he turned on his side and closed his eyes. Skipper felt his senses dwindle. "Farewell, World. I'm sorry ..." Skipper murmured softly, before he lost consciousness.

Shortly after the leader had muttered his last words, Officer X entered the room. He looked to Skipper, who was lying motionless in his cage. The officer saw the chance to take revenge finally, because he has been fired once again, because of Skipper. He would bring him to a doctor who would euthanize him. Although he still had a chance of survival. The Officer would Skipper let die. He opened the cage and pulled out the unconscious penguin.

The leader was barely breathing and his heart beat almost couldn´t be felt anymore. This is my chance, "thought Officer X. He wouldn´t help him, but bring him to euthanization, because he was barely alive after all. He held Skipper his and left the room. With slow steps, he went on his way to the laboratory where Skipper should find his final resting place. But his steps were observed by Kowalski, Rico, Private, and Raven who were already lying in wait to rescue their leader.


	12. In The Very Last Second

12. In The Very Last Second

Kowalski and the others observed Officer X as he carried Skipper into a gloomy-looking room. Now there was no time to lose. "Kowalski, what means to euthanize someone?" Private asked naively. The scientist looked with disbelief at Private and shook his head. "Euthanization means to end someones life, when it´s too late to save someone from death. So, if you die anyway, the euthanization is the only way to kill someone without pain. That´s why it´s called a death for good." Kowalski said fast to not lose more time.

"That means they´re going to end Skipper´s life. NO!" shouted Private panicked and got into a shock. The scientist nodded and ran after Officer X. The others all followed him, but the door was already closed. They heard voices from inside. "What´s wrong with the little guy?" someone asked. "He has swallowed half a can of sleeping pills. He's already passed out completely. His pulse and his breathing are massively impaired. I fear that he will not hold out long. That´s why I brought him to you Doc. I want you to redeem him from his sufferings. " heard the others been said by Officer X. "Hmm, they way I see this that you´re right. Let´s put the poor penguin to forever sleep." said the other voice.

As the penguins and Raven heard this, they got a shock. The doctor actually wanted to euthanize Skipper. They had to stop him quickly. Rico tried with all his strengh to break the door, but he failed. "What should we do now?" Private asked desperately, with tears in his eyes. But Raven had an idea. "Come on, hide. When I say it, you guys slip through the door." said the raven-black cat confident.

The penguins quickly took cover. Raven got up and knocked loudly at the door. After that he went quickly to take cover too and laid in wait. At first nothing happened, but then they heard that someone stepped towards the door. Slowly, the door was opened and the doctor looked confused around himself, but he saw no one who had knocked on the door. Within seconds, Raven quickly jumped up to him and clung on to his face. "Run quickly. Save your friend. I will distract him!" he called to the penguins. Without hesitation, they slipped through the door. The doctor tried desperately to beat Raven from his face. But the cat had clung to him and littered him with deep scratches. "What's going on out there?" Officer X said out from inside.

"Help me!" yelled the doctor at Officer X. But at that moment the Officer saw the penguins slipping into the room. "Somehow I knew that you will come to save your friend. But you are too late. He is as good as dead anyway, he wanted to kill himself, yes you heard right. He didn´t want to live any longer, so I´m doing him a favor. " Officer X told with his diabolical laugh.

The penguins could not believe what they heard. "Why would he want to die?" Private asked in shock. But Kowalski closed his eyes and didn´t answer him. The scientist didn´t know how he could help Skipper if the Officer was right. They saw their leader lying almost motionless on the examination table. It already looked like he was dying. Now they had to get the cruel Officer out of their way too, so that they could finally help Skipper.

Private and Kowalski were petrified by desperation, but Rico was so angry and attacked Officer X. The two squared off in a fierce battle, but Officer X was as tall and muscled man much stronger than Rico. He threw the penguin against the wall and Rico crashed into the closet, which collapsed on him and buried Rico. But after the crash and the dust cleared, they saw no sign of maniac penguin. "Rico, no!" Private cried and wanted to run to him quickly, but Officer X grabbed him and chained him to another table, where Skipper had been chained on before.

The little boy struggled violently, but he couldn´t do anything against the iron grip of Officer X. He felt like the iron shackles closed around his feet and flippers. He was stuck and couldn´t help Skipper anymore. Private could only watch helplessly how the Officer turned to Skipper again. He obviously wanted to bring an end to this.

As Kowalski started to attack him, he met the ruthless fist of the Officer and he was thrown against the wall. Panting, he slipped down on it and was lying on the floor. "Now fun is ending. Let´s get it over finally." Officer X said triumphantly. He took the syringe, the doctor had already prepared for Skipper and held it high into the air.

Kowalski didn´t know how he could prevent it anymore. Desperate, he saw the needle approaching to Skipper threatening. "No!" Private screamed loudly, but no one heard him. Now they could only hope for a miracle.


	13. Saved from Death

**Note. Hey Guys, thanx for the reviews. Now the other penguins finally found Skipper. But i gotta mention that this chapte won´t be an ending. They need to escape from the lab there will be a few more chapters. So you´ll see what´ll happen next. XOXO**

**P.S. Don´t forget to review.^^ thx**

13. Saved from Death

Kowalski couldn´t watch this anymore, because the needle of the syringe was just a few inches away from Skipper. Even if he could fly, he wouldn´t be able to prevent him from death. Everything was in slow motion to him. But Kowalski suddenly saw a black flash rushing past him. It was Raven, who lunged at the officer and bet Officer X the syringe from his hands.

Kowalski and the other were so reliefed. Raven built himself up, threatening. in front of Officer X and hissed at him "Silly kitty, do you really think you could stop me?" Officer X said with derision. But Kowalski ran immediately to Raven, and stood in front of Skipper to protect him. "You think that you can bring each animal to captivity, but with us you will fail!" shouted the angry scientist.

But Officer X didn´t even pay any attention to him and walked strictly towards them. He came closer and stopped suddenly. "What the?" he asked, looking at the floor. Rico had sneaked up and punched him an anesthetic injection in his leg. The Penguins and Raven watched as the officer slowly sank to the ground and remained motionless.

"Well done, Rico!" called Kowalski and Private. Rico nodded and jumped on the table, where Private was caught and freed him from the shackles. "And now, let´s take care of Skipper." Kowalski said seriously again. Quick, all gathered around the leader, who laid like dead on the table. "Kowalski, what should we do now?" Private asked anxiously. "I'm not sure. But we´ve got to do something quickly, before the sleeping pills will kill him." said the scientist concerned.

He stepped closer to Skipper. "Hey, Skipper. Can you hear me?" Kowalski asked softly and shook him slightly. But the leader didn´t react at all. The other fell slightly in a panic. "What if he doesn´t wake up anymore?" asked the little Private with a tremor in his voice. "I. I don´t know. I don´t know what to do." Kowalski murmured softly, and sat down next to Skipper. He gently put his flippers on his body.

He felt his weak breathing and his heart beat rapidly weakening. But he also felt something else. "Oh no, he has a few broken ribs. But maybe I could ..." said the scientist, and put his flippers on Skippers broken ribs. "Maybe you could what?" Private asked in wonder, watching Kowalski. "Well, maybe he wakes up with pain, Private. Maybe I´ll get him out of the coma in that way." said the tall penguin and started easily pressing his flippers on Skippers chest, right where his ribs were broken.

"You want to hurt him?" Private asked horrified. Kowalski nodded and pressed harder on Skippers ribs. The scientists felt Skippers pulse getting faster from pain. It seemed to work. "Skipper, wake up!" Private and sat down and cried next to his leader. "I think if the sleeping pills were still in his stomach and he´ll digest them further you can´t do anything, to get him out of the sleep. You have to get the remaining pills out of his body." said Raven.

"You're right. We have to try to get the pills out of Skipper´s stomach, fast." Kowalski said, and started to press firmly on Skippers belly. "If we can trigger a nausea, he might be able to regurgitate the undigested tablets." said the scientist, and pressed with all his strength on Skippers stomach.

Suddenly they heard a faint murmur. "Stop! Leave me alone." Skipper said vaguely. The others were happy that their leader was barely awake again. But Kowalski still tried to induce vomiting. He pressed more firmly on his stomach and Skipper to cough.

"Yes, Skipper, you have to get the pills out of your stomach." said the scientist. Skipper seemed to have heard, and turned on his stomach. He coughed and started to stuck his trembling flipper in his throat.

He briefly choked and finally managed to throw up the sleeping pills. He couldn´t even stop anymore and Kowalski and Private gently petted his back. After Skipper had strangled the last tablet, he collapsed again and remained panting on the table.

With clenched eyes, he coughed and pushed his flippers on his belly, which hurt terribly. "Skipper, you can hear me?" Private asked nervously, and took him in his flippers. The leader was lying weak and vulnerable in Privates hug and tried to regain his consciousness. He nodded to confirm small Private´s question.

The others were so relieved that Skipper could hear them at least. "Finally we have you back again. I thought we had lost you forever." Private cried happily and hugged the leader more tighter. After a quarter hour Skipper was finally able to open his eyes again. The light blinded him and he saw the blurred outline of his friends that he had believed to be dead.

"Kowalski, where am I?" Am I dead? " Skipper asked weakly. "No, we are all with you and you're alive." said the scientist happy and had tears in his eyes. "This is a dream. You're dead I couldn´t do anything to prevent it. All are dead you, Amy and I. At least I hope I´m dead because I´m all alone in this world." Skipper muttered in a trembling voice.

The others got a shock when Skipper said that. "No, Skipper. We are here. We are doing well and you´ll be fine again soon. Look at me, Skipper. You're not dead and you didn´t have lost us and we didn´t have lost you." Private said in a tearful voice.

Skipper looked Private right into his eyes and felt hie warm and protecting hug now quite clear. This wasn´t just a dream anymore, Private and his other friends were really here. They have saved him and theiy aren´t dead at all. Slowly, the leader seemed to understand that his life wasn´t meaningless anymore.


	14. The Last Vengeance

14. The Last Vengeance

"Private, you're alive?" Skipper asked weakly, looking around. All his friends stood with a worried look in front of him. Skipper felt a stinging sensation in his stomach. He nearly killed himself, because he thought that his friends were dead.

But he was wrong. All of them were with him now. "Skipper, why did you do that? Why did you try to kill yourself?" Kowalski asked agitated. Skipper sighed. "I thought, you are dead and I didn´t want to live anymore as I realized that you were gone. My life makes no sense without you, guys." muttered Skipper.

"We were so worried about you, Skipper. Please don´t do something like that ever again." Private wept and hugged the leader more tightly. "I will always stay with you. Whether I live or die, my friends." Skipper said in a trembling voice, because it was very difficult for him to talk about emotions.

"Well, at least everything found a good ending." said Raven stirred. "Who are you? Were you trapped here too?" Skipper asked because he didn´t know Raven yet. The black cat just nodded, because this place caused nothing but pain to him too. "He helped us to save you, Skipper. For this I´ll be eternally grateful to him." Private said, looking over to Raven. "You have saved me too. I don´t think that I would have survived any longer in this hell." replied the cat.

Suddenly, the Penguins and Raven heard something behind them. But they noticed too late that Officer X regaine consiousness again. He quickly grabbed the small Private and held him tight. "So what are you going to do now? Either you all surrender or this little guy will die." Officer X said angrily and held the syringe at Privates neck, which he wanted to kill Skipper with before

The other ones felt how their hearts stopped beating for a second. With such a sudden attack, they didn´t expect at all. "Let him go, immediately, or you will rue the day when you crossed our path for the first time." Skipper growled angrily. Slowly the leader got on his feet. He was very dizzy, but he managed to look threatening to Officer X and the others.

The officer just laughed because he saw no threat in Skipper. "You´re kidding me. You're as good as dead anyway, Penguin. And then you want to spread such ridiculous threats." Officer X laughed cruelly and pushed the small Private still closer to him, as he tried to fight back. But Skipper was at the end of his patience. Officer X had inflicted terrible pain to him, but he would never allow that he was doing something to Private.

The leader walked up to the officer and the needle of the syringe got dangerously close to Privates neck. "Skipper, no." muttered Kowalski, who knew that Skipper couldn´t fight at all at his condition. He was afraid to loos him and Private if something should go wrong now.

Skipper took a deep breath and gathered his remaining strength. Then he quickly jumped on the officer and pulled Private out of his hands. The little boy fell to the ground and watched as Officer X rammed Skipper the syringe in his abdomen. "No!" Private screamed in horror and the others were paralyzed from the shock.

Skipper landed back on the table and went to his knees. He breathed heavily and pulled the needle out of his belly. The leader got dizzy spells, but he tried to focus, because he wanted to get his pay back finally. Skipper started attacking again, ignoring any pain he felt.

He struck and punched Officer X right in the face. His sunglasses shattered and he backed away. He got some splinters in the eye and screamed loudly. Skipper saw his chance now to get his vengeance. He went up to the officer and beat again and again. There was nothing left in him but pure hate and anger. He let all the pain and frustration out on him.

The others could´t move a single inch. They never had seen Skipper beeing so angry and violent before. The two squared off in a fierce battle, but gradually Skipper felt that his strength left him. He saw everything blurred around him. The poison crept through his veins, and robbed him his last forces, but he attacked more and more.

The others saw that Skipper was getting weaker and were quickly at his side to help him. They knew that he would die now, after receiving the injection that was actually meant to euthanize him before. Officer X crashed after a last desperate strike by Skipper against the wall and remained there motionless. A small trickle of blood ran down his face.

The leader was standing right in front of him and gasped. It's over, now. No one can save me from my fate anymore, thought Skipper after feeling his body getting numb. He almost wasn´t able to breath anymore and he felt an unbearable stinging in his heart. Then, without warning, he collapsed before the eyes of others and lost consciousness. "Skipper. No, please!" Private cried and ran to him. "No, you can´t die. No, please don´t. Kowalski please help him!" cried the little penguin and panicked.

Kowalski was on the spot immediately and saw that he couldn´t do anything against the poisoning. He examined Skipper's pulse and respiration, which were getting weaker with every minute passing by. "Hurry, please do something." Private cried, knowing what Kowalski's scared face meant. The scientist tried to speed up the pulse of the leader with a light heart massage again, but it didn´t work at all and he gave up.

He knew that he wasn´t able to do anything to save Skippers life, after the deadly poison already raged in the leaders body. "Private, I can´t do anything anymore. It's too late. Even if I would have an antidote it´s too late to get his conditon better. The poison is already too long in his body. Soon his heart will fail and I can´t prevent this. It's over. I think it is time that we say goodbye to him, guys. " Kowalski murmured, and tears dripped down his beak.

**Note: I know this sounds like an ending, but it won´t. It´s just an unexpected twist of the story to keep the tension up. So please keep reading and reviewing. XOXO**


	15. Not Dead

15. Not Dead

Private couldn´t believe that Skipper would die after all that they had been through. They were in total despair and Kowalski stopped to keep Skipper´s pulse up in normal rate by a heart massage. After all his heart rate was already threatening low. The only thing they could do now, was waiting for that the leader's heart will stop beating.

"Shall we say a few words?" said Raven, who wanted to break the eerie silence between the penguins. But all of them remained in silent grief and the black cat relapsed into silence too again. Rico´s tears were running from his beak, unstopable. He was so sad that he wanted to blow something up to let out his anger about Skippers death.

The maniac penguin waddled slowly in the direction where Officer X was still lying motionless on the ground. Suddenly he saw the syringe, that Officer rammed Skipper into the belly, right in front of his feet. He picked it up and brought it to the others. Kowalski was still crying bitterly, because he wasn´t able to do anything to stop Skippers dying. He glanced at the syringe, which Rico had placed on the ground beside him and saw that something was written on a white label, which stuck on it. When the scientists looked closer, he saw a word that suddenly made him smile again. Propofol.

"This is not possible, is it? This is too good to be true!" Kowalski shouted suddenly, and the other glanced at him in shock. "Kowalski, what is it?" Private asked with tear-stained eyes. "Skipper, wake up. Come on!" Kowalski muttered, shaking the leader slightly. "Kowalski, he is dying. Why should he wake up now anyway and perhaps he´s in terrible pain?" Raven asked in a hushed voice, who couldn´t explain the strange behavior of the scientist.

"Skipper will not die. Officer X has given him a wrong injection." Kowalski said quickly, trying to wake Skipper up. "And what did he get instead?" Private asked horrified. "It is Propofol written on the label of the syringe. This is an anesthetic. Skipper just got a sedative. That means that he´s just passed out." Kowalski said excitedly. "What?" the others called together at once. "But why is his heart beating so slow?" Private asked, who couldn´t realize the good news.

"This is a possible side effect of medicine, it can lead to hypotension. But one thing is for sure, Skipper will not die." said the scientist, who was completely in his element now. "However, I am concerned, about the dose he got injected. It can take a few hours until he regains consiousness again, folks." Kowalski said, and started to monitor Skippers vital condition again. "We gotta take him out of danger quickly before this crazy guy wakes up again. But should first wait until he is awake again, before we try to escape from here." Raven said he and the others agreed.

"Where should we take him, where no one can find us?" Private asked, looking perplexed at Raven. "Hhm, I think here is still an old laboratory room that is not used anymore after something exploded there a few days ago." said the cat. The Penguins nodded and sat up, because they had no chioce but to trust Raven. Rico lifted Skipper gently off the floor and was very careful not to touch his broken ribs. Slowly they got out of the lab.

"I hope that this room is not completely devastated. Maybe we'll find something I can treat Skippers fractured ribs with. And I also should take a look after you, Private. After the house had collapsed, we didn´t had much time to take care of your injuries." Kowalski said, watching the little penguin, who looked visibly exhausted.

And the scientist was right, because Private actually didn´t feel very good, but the concern for Skipper had made him forget his pain and wounds. Quietly the four slipped back into the corridor and pointed ears and earholes. But there was not the slightest sound to hear, so they crept away quickly.

Raven led them. With his black paws, he almost seemed to float above the ground. The penguins just noticed now how quietly and quickly a cat could move around. They had trouble following him slowly, especially Rico, who had to carry Skipper. After about ten minutes they finally got their destination. The door of the room had black burn marks all over it, and could just be opened with a loud creak.

The lab was a complete mess, when they stepped into it. Everywhere laid splintered test tubes and bottles. Bandages and pills were spread on the dirty floor. Softly they closed the door behind them again and remained in the dark. Rico choked up a flashlight and gave it to Kowalski.

He revealed a small desk lamp on a shelf in the corner and switched it on. The light flickered for a few seconds, but then it glowed, so the penguins and the cat were no longer dependent on the flashlight. Rico put Skipper right under the lamp and Kowalski immediately went in search of any medical stuff, which he will need for doctoring Skipper and Private.

He was searching for about five minutes and returned with packaged bandages, a new syringe and an unopened bottle with clear fluid in it. "Kowalski, what is all this stuff?" Private asked puzzled. "So I can treat Skippers broken ribs and hopefully take his pain. I think that he has got more hurt in the fight with Officer X than he already had been before." said the scientist and went to work.

He quickly drew the cover of the needle of the syringe and filled the syringe with the clear liquid. "You want to inject him a drug again?" Raven asked, surprised. "Yes, this is lidocaine. A local anesthetic. I'll inject Skipper this stuff right in the area of his broken ribs, so that the pain will be stunned at least. And when he wakes up later, we'll see how his condition is." said the scientist, and groped with his flippers over Skippers chest and looked for the rib fracture. On his left side, a few inches below his heart he found the place and the tall penguin carefully injected lidocaine under Skippers skin.

"So, that´s it. Rico could you lift him a bit from the floor?" asked Kowalski and unwrapped the bandage. Rico lifted Skipper gently from the ground and supported him on his shoulders. Quickly the scientist wrapped the bandage around Skippers chest and pulled it tight. "That's it. That´s all I can do for him now." said the tall penguin, and they suddenly heard a faint moan.


	16. Trying to Escape

**Note: Now its time to escape. But will everything end well? Find out! Please review.**

16. Trying to Escape

Quickly the penguins and Raven turned around. Skipper seemed to finally get back to his senses. All gathered around him, to see how he is. "Skipper, can you hear me? Everything is alright. Now you don´t need to worry anymore. We are all here with you." Private said softly, stroking the leader over his head. But he only nodded slightly, because was still too weak to speak.

He was still very dizzy and wasn´t able to think straight because of the anesthesia. About ten minutes later, Skipper opened his eyes and looked into the anxious faces of his friends. "Skipper, how are you? Are you in pain?" asked Kowalski excited because he wanted to know if his medication had worked. "No idea. Somehow, everything feels numb. But don´t worry about me. We need to get out of here, this is a priority." muttered the leader weak.

Slowly he tried to sit up, but his wings were too weak to carry his weight and he fell roughly on his back again. Private wanted to catch him, but Skipper slid through his flippers. Private suddenly cried out briefly after the leader had touched his wing by falling down. "Private, are you okay?" asked the scientist, and was on the spot. "I don´t know. My flipper suddenly hurt so much." Private wailed and pushed his injured wing on his body. "Let me take a look." Kowalski mumbled and looked Privates flipper. But after another short contact, the little penguin cried again in pain. "I assume that it is broken. But why then does he hurt now, so sudden?" the tall penguin said thoughtfully.

"Well, to be honest, it has been hurting for a while. More specifically, since the house has collapsed on me. But I ignored it because we had to rescue Skipper. That was more important to me." declared Private. Skipper couldn´t believe what he heard. "A house has collapsed on you?" asked the leader shocked. Private nodded and Kowalski told him the whole story.

Skipper was horrified when the scientist told him everything. They had so many hardships to go through just for saving him? Skipper was a bit ashamed, because he nearly killed himself, and almost let down his friends and almost brought them even more pain. "I'm so sorry for everything." muttered the leader sadly. "Why?" Why are you sorry for anything, Skipper? " asked Private, during his wing has been wrapped with a bandage by Kowalski. "Well, that you had to go through so much pain just to save me. I'm to blame, that so many terrible things have happened to you." said Skipper and his voice trembled. He could hardly realize what loyal friend he had.

"But of course, what do you think? We will always follow you." said the scientist like this would be the most ovious thing in the world. "But I have another question to you. Why the hell did you want to kill yourself anyway?" added Kowalski. "Well, there was a very simple reason. I've heard that you were dead, and thats because I didn´t want to live anymore. I wanted to leave all the pain behind me, because I couldn´t bear it anymore. Do you understand? Without you my life doesn´t make any sense. " Skipper said and tried to hide his tears.

"That means that you would die for us, Skipper?" asked Private and tears ran down his face. But the leader nodded silently, and seconds later, he has been hugged by his friends, like they had never hugged him before. Now Skipper couldn´t hide his tears anymore. He was just happy that he had his brothers back again and they got him back again.

Now they were all back together. A few minutes later they let go of Skipper again. All of them had tears in their eyes. After this emotional moment, Skipper felt a little bit strange. "My friends. I don´t want to spoil this moment, but we need to ensure that we quickly find a way out of here." said Raven, who was quite touched. Skipper nodded and stood up swaying. He wasn´t able to get up without help yet. Buy the others were immediatly with him to support him. "Kowalski. Escaping options." asked the leader, and sounded almost as usual.

"I would suggest that we go back the same way we came from again." Kowalski said, looking at the door. But Skipper got the idea of not just getting out of here. He wanted something else. Deep in his heart he wanted to destroy this horrible place. He just wanted revenge for all that has been done to him here. But Skipper didn´t know how to do this without getting his friends involved..

After a half an hour recovering break, Raven and the penguins were getting ready to escape. They ran back to the corridor where they came from, but everything looked the same on this corridor. They didn´t have noticed that before. Skipper kept looking around, because he had the strange feeling that someone followed them. They went deeper and deeper into a maze of laboratories and storage rooms. Soon they didn´t know where they were at all. They opened doors at random, but the rooms had no windows, from which they could escape. Skipper kept hearing footsteps behind him, but every time he turned around he couldn´t see anyone.

They explored a few more rooms and got into a heating room. But fortunatly this one had a window. Many pipes sprung up in this dirty room and all went together to a large heating boiler. This growled loudly and left the floor vibrate slightly. "Quick, let´s move out boys." Skipper said, and helped the others climbing up on the wall, especially the small Private who could hardly climb with his broken wing. But suddenly the steel door has been opened and Officer X stood right in front of them, threatening. He got some dry blood stucking on his forehead and his sunglasses were broken. Skipper got a shock when he saw that the guy had a gun in his hands. "RUN!" shouted the leader, trying to lead the attention of the officer at him, but the guy had other plans.

"You bastards have fooled me for the last time. Now I get my revenge." Offcer X growled and aimed at the small Private. Skipper saw everything in slow motion. The man actually wanted to shoot the little penguin. He saw Officer X slowly pulled the trigger and he heard a loud bang.

Skipper couldn´t allow that someone is going to hurt Private. At the last second he jumped in front of the child, who was petrified. The leader felt the bullet digging into his chest and he was thrown back on Private. Both fell to the ground and the others could only watch helplessly.


	17. The End?

**Note: This chapter is a little bloody and sad. I warned you. But this is not the final chapter. I hope I was able to keep the tension up because this story is getting longer than I thought at the beginning. So enjoy and please review. XOXO ladywhiplasher.**

**P.S. Dont forget to read my depressive christmas special oneshot "All Alone On Christmas" THX**

After a short blackout Skipper felt his blood running down his chest. He couldn´t believe it, that he would die now after all these terrible events happened. He was completely in shock and also felt no pain. Quickly the leader turned to Private, who looked at him in horror. "Skipper. No ..." stammered the little penguin who realized that this was the end for Skipper.

Rico, Kowalski and Raven were completely frozen because they couldn´t believe what just happened. Skipper looked in their desperated faces and groaned, as the stabbing pain finally reached his brain. He quickly pressed his flippers on his chest and gasped. Private could only watch as the leader collapsed before his eyes.

Everything seemed to happen in slowmotion to Skipper. "No!" he heard Kowalski screaming loudly. He saw the scientists quickly ran up to him and heard another gunshot. Skipper saw how Kowalski collapsed to the ground. Slowly, his lifeless body fell on the dusty ground and remained motionless.

Skipper closed his eyes, because he couldn´t stand all that anymore. Kowalski was also dead now, the leader looked shocked at the frozen face of Privat who bend over him to help the leader. "Skipper, why?" Private muttered desperately, but he just shook his head. The leader felt his life force fading away with every drop of blood he lost.

Raven and Rico were completely paralyzed and didn´t know, what to do now. Rico looked at Officer X, who was still standing there with raised gun. But the maniac penguin didn´t care about anything anymore. He tried to attack the man, but he shot him and another penguin died before Skipper and Privates eyes. Any loss seemed to multiply Skippers pain.

A few seconds after Rico's death, the Raven jumped on the officer, but he threw the cat against the wall, where he remained in a pool of blood. Skipper knew what would happen now. Officer X was stepping toward them. The leader could how the trembling Private pushed himself to his body. "Skipper, please. Tell me what to do." murmured the little penguin desperated. But Skipper had no idea how to get out of this hopeless situation. He tried to turn on his stomach to stand up. "Leave the little penguin alone. You want me alone, right? Kill me and let him go!" Skipper said bravely.

Private heard a pleading tone in his voice and knew that would maybe be the last chance to survive. But the officer pushed the leader aside and stood directly in front Private. Skipper closed his eyes, because he couldn´t watch what happened next. He just heard one other shot and the leader knew that all his friends were dead now. Now he was alone again.

The pain in his chest was nothing compared with the emotional pain he felt now. Skipper heard the steps of the officer approaching him now. The man bent down to him, and put the gun on his chest. Skipper held his breath. "It looks as you lost everything. Any last words?" muttered Officer X and Skipper saw his finger got more and more closer to the trigger. Skipper couldn´t escape anymore, all was lost now.

The leader closed his eyes and just listened to the final last shot. Skipper screamed and then everything was black around him, but he didn´t stop crying. He was in complete darkness now and cried in despair to his dead friends. He knew that he was dead now, but he couldn´t understand why he was surrounded by darkness.

Skipper wasn´t able to do anything anymore, even spill tears for his dead friends. He just felt as his physical pain was getting easier. He clenched his eyes and tried to accept his death. But then he heard distant voices calling his name. "Skipper, wake up." Kowalski's voice he heard. At first it was very vague, but with every second that passed, it became clearer. "Skipper, please wake up again. Come on." he heard Private calling.

Skipper tried to open his eyes and a sudden light blinded him. "Hey guys, he wakes up." the leader heard Kowalski saying and the darkness slowly disappeared around him. Skipper slowly opened his eyes and the light that blinded him was from a flashlight with that Kowalski shone into his face. "Pupils are reacting to light." the scientist said relieved. Skipper still saw everything in a blurry vision, but he knew that his friends were with him again. But was he dead now, or was this all just a dream?


	18. Déjá Vu

Skipper, can you hear me. Please wake up again, "cried Private and the leader felt that the boy was right beside him. It was all just a dream, thought Skipper, whose thoughts came slowly back to reality." Private ... Where am I? "muttered Skipper weak and breathless." You're safe, we are all with you. "Private said softly and looked inquiringly to Kowalski." Skipper, how do you feel? Are you in pain? " the scientists said slightly nervous.

But Skipper just shood his head slightly, but the others were relived by his reaction. The leader opened his eyes and saw his friends around him. He saw that Privates wing was bandaged and he got nervous. It was just like in his dream. Skipper just hoped that it wouldn´t become reality. The leader tried to sit up and looked into the very anxious faces of his friends.

"What happened?" asked Skipper surprised. "Well, you probably had a bad dream. You suddenly screamed loudly, as if something bad happened. But you'll probably not remember it, do you? "Said Private and sat down beside him. Skipper did´t know what to say. They were right. He had a nightmare, but that was not just a normal nightmare. It seemed to be a bad forecast. But Skipper was ready to prevent this, even when he would die in the attempt.

"Skipper, you can tell us. After all that happened here, nothing can shock me anymore." Kowalski said curiously. Skipper sighed, why should he lie to them. After a few seconds of silence the leader told his friends from his terrible nightmare, but somehow they didn´t seemed to get nervous about it.

"Skipper, you were under anesthesia, and that might cause wild nightmares. This is quite normal. Don´t worry, we'll be all right." Kowalski said confidently But Skipper didn´t believe that all this was just a coincidence. "Private, how are you feeling and why did the building collapse on you?" Skipper asked caring. But the others responded quite excited before Private was able to answer. "How do you know? We haven´t told you yet? " Kowalski asked shocked. But Skipper just looked at him with an eloquent glance. "Your dream?" asked the scientist and looked frightened. "You mean that was really a kind of vision?" Kowalski asked again.

But Skipper just nodded again and said nothing. "But that means that we all have to die, right?" Private asked shocked. "No, I will never allow. I believe this dream was a kind of warning, like how I should protect my friends." Skipper said, looking at the floor. If this dangerous adventure would really call for his life, he wouldn´t hesitate to sacrifice it for his friends.

"No, Skipper, if anything should happen to you, then ... No, you're too weak and too sick, you can´t protect us. I don´t want to lose you, Skipper." Private whimpered with tears in his eyes. Skipper said nothing because he couldn´t promise anything. He just put his wings around the small Private and hugged him tightly.

"Some things are worth dying for. And for you guys I would do it ..." Skipper murmured softly and sadly. But before he got an answer, he was in a big hug from all his friends. "It was really poetic ..." muttered Kowalski touched. But all were aware that they would never let Skipper sacrifice his life.

It was time that they got out of here, that was on all of their minds. But Skipper got a stinging feeling in his stomach just at the thought of escaping. Somehow he knew how this all is going to end. Slowly they made their way, but the leader paid attention to every little noise. Private saw how concerned he was and gave him an encouraging smile.

They followed exactly the path that the Skipper had previously seen in his dream. The gloomy atmosphere his strange feeling in his stomach grew more and more. But this was apparently the only way out. As in his dream, Skipper heard steps behind him, but he tried to ignore them. The leader hoped fervently that the same scenario wouldn´t repeat itself.

The maze of doors and corridors became more confusing. Soon they were lost but still looking for an exit, until they were faced with a steel door that led into a boiler room. When they opened the door Skipper felt like his nightmare came true. Everything looked exactly the same. The window, the heating boiler, the pipes, everything.

Right here in this room he and his friends had found their death. Slowly they entered the room and Skipper got into a panic. What if there really was a premonition? As they walked towards the window, the dream of the leader got reality. Officer X was suddenly standing behind them, holding a gun in his hand. Skipper almost had a heart attack when he saw that, now he had to react quickly. "Quick, hide!" cried the leader, and within a second his friends took cover.

Skipper saw Officer X walking threatening toward him. His footsteps echoed in the small room. The man aimed his gun without any words at Skipper and fired. Now, everything happened very quickly. Skipper jumped in the last second out of the way and the bullet hit one of the tubes. "Quick to the window, get outta here!" cried the leader, and continued to try to draw the attention of the officers to himself.

But he started to shoot wildly around, but he shot no one. Skipper knew that his friends were in life-danger and jumped on Officer X. He clutched to the arm of the man so that he couldn´t shoot anymore. He gave the other time to climb out of the window. They were almost outside, as Officer X pulled Skipper from his arm and threw the penguin against one of the tubes. Skipper crashed violently against it and gasped in pain as if someone had rammed him a red-hot blade into the back. He was briefly blacked out, but he tried not to faint.

Blurred, he saw his friends, who were almost all climbed out the window. But then he saw that Private came back into the room. "Private. No." Skipper muttered and noticed a sudden strange smell. It smelled strongly like gas. Then the leader got an idea. But before he could think to the end of it, Private was already with him and helped him to get up. "Thank you. Now get out of here." Skipper said, looking at the little penguin who didn´t understand why he should.

Officer X was obviously confused and saw that Private tried to drag Skipper to the window. He pointed the gun at them and fired. Skipper pushed the little penguin quickly to the side, but the bullet grazed his chest and slammed into another tube. The leader felt his heart racing. Now he had only one option. He had to do it now, before the officer actually killed anyone. "Rico, a red herring. Pronto." Skipper said, hoping that Rico wouldn´t disappoint him.

The crazy penguin choked and vomited a wave of small marbles. Officer X skidded on the floor when they came under his feet. This was the opportunity. Private helped Skipper to climb through the window. "Rico. Dynamite. Quick," said Skipper when he saw that Officer X pointed his gun at them again "Run!" Skipper shouted to the others and threw the dynamite into the room, which had now been filled to the ceiling with gas.


	19. All Saved

**Note: Now this is the final chapter. Now you get to know more about Raven and there will also be a couple of cute Private/ Skipper moments. I hope you liked my story. I´ve also been working on a new one. I´ll try to upload as fast as I can. So please read this last chapter and tell me what you think about the story. XOXO Ladywhiplasher**

"Run!" Skipper shouted to the others to get them out of danger. But the leader himself was standing right outside the window and saw the fuse of the dynamite was slowly burning down. The others knew what would happen now. "Skipper, get away!" the other penguins shouted, but Raven quickly jumped forward and ran like a lightning toward Skipper.

The leader knew he wouldn´t make it to get away from the explosion im time. The explosion would kill him, that he was painfully aware of. But at least his friends were save, that was the most important thing for him now. But even before the dynamite exploded and ripped Skipper into death, Raven pulled the penguin away from the window. The leader was like in a trance, feeling the soft, black fur of the cat on his feathers.

Then it happened. The whole room exploded and a fierce blast hurled the penguins and Raven off several meters. The room in which Officer X had been was burning brightly. Skipper knew that it wasn´t the end. By the gas as it all happened in a chain reaction. Several explosions followed, until the whole building was on fire. "Quick, let's get out of here." Kowalski called through the flames. Skipper still clung full of shock on Raven.

They ran as fast as they could. They just wanted to get out of here quickly. When they passed a couple of streets, they stopped at last. Everyone was out of breath. "We did it!" cried the little Private and for the first time he was really happy since days. Raven put Skipper carefully on the ground and the penguin actually realized now that he was still alive. They were all alive. "Oh gosh, Skipper you´re bleeding!" Private cried when he looked up to Skipper. The leader looked down. A small cut moved across his chest, where the bullet grazed him. "What?" Oh, don´t panic. It´s not bad, Private. Actually, it does not even hurt. " stammered Skipper to calm the little penguin down.

But Private crawled over to him and hugged the leader in exhaution. "I was so scared, Skipper. I hope something like that will never happen again." muttered the boy crying and buried his face in Skippers feathers. "Shh, Private. All is fine. You havn´t to be afraid of anything anymore." Skipper whispered softly, patting Privates back.

"Raven, you saved my life. Thank you, without you I would not be here now." said the leader, and nodded grateful to the cat. Raven looked back at him and gave him a satisfied smile. The Penguins knew him so far now, that they knew that Raven is not a cat of many words and was always shrouded in a mysterious silence. Also, Kowalski and Rico went to Private and Skipper and hugged the two too.

They were all just happy that they had survived. "Now we just have to find a way, how we come back home." Kowalski said after a while. The others nodded silently, and the scientist turned to Raven. "What are you going to do? Do you have a home?" he asked the cat. Raven shook his head. "You know, I've been around a lot. I was born in London and was adopted by a nice family when I was just a kitten. I was a gift for a girl. But when the family moved to America, my cage got lost on the trip . I was simply taken to a warehouse of the airport and no one knew I was still in the box. But I was lucky that my cage has been damaged on the trip. I managed to escape and left. But I was now all alone. I was young and didn´t know where to go. Then I met another cat named Max. A nice guy. He showed me the city and togheter we wandered along the streets of New York. Until the day when they captivated me. " Raven told the Penguins and looked at them sadly.

"Max? Are you talking about the moon cat?" Skipper asked, curious. "Yes, I think so. He once told me that some weird birds liked to call him mooncat because they thought they had landed on the moon. Strange story." Raven said, and looked at the leader in surprise. Skipper started to giggle. "Uh, this weird birds. I think that he meant us." Skipper laughed about this funny coincidence. "This is really a long story." Kowalski said, standing up.

"Let's look for the truck, with wich we came here. Then again so we can go home." said the scientist. "Yes you´re right. I also want to go home." Skipper said, standing up. Private stood up still clinging to him. He was glad too to be back at the zoo soon. Kowalski remembered the way, they followed to get here. Slowly they came forward because they were all pretty tired of all the hardships. When they finally arrived at their destination, the truck that was, has been loaded again. Quickly they slipped into the truck. They hid until the driver closed the hatch. Now they just had to wait.

It was a long trip back to the zoo. Skipper leaned against a box and dozed off a bit. Private sat down beside him and also was about to nod off by the quiet hum of the that he knew it he leaned on to Skippers belly. But he quickly sat back up again, as Skippers stomach started to grumble, and woke the leader from his nap. "Oh, I almost forgot. You've eaten nothing for ages." Private said and Rico choked up his last peanut butter winky that he gave the maniac penguin before the whole trip had started. "Here, I´ve kept this one just for you, Skipper." said Private and gave it to the leader. Skipper smiled and took it gratefully. "Thank you, Private. That's so kind of you." Skipper murmured, touched by private welfare and ate the winky. Then he hugged the little penguin, and both fell asleep exhausted.

The End


End file.
